Christmas 2007

We had a fantastic Christmas this year. Joshua and I made this little video (almost 5 minutes) of our Christmas season highlights. One of my New Year's resolutions will be to not talk while I'm filming my children performing!

We've only had one lowlight: Joshua got Strep throat and ended up in the emergency room one night. His symptoms were a fever and inability to move his neck... so we feared Meningitis and were thankful it was Strep throat - easily treatable with 3 pills/day.

This blog marks our one year anniversary of blogging!

Weekend in Whistler...

Mark's company Cosco took us up to Whistler for the weekend - and what fun!
We stayed at the Chateau Whistler, played in the pool, spent a few hours at the Tube Park, and then went to the Christmas party. Lucy danced from 9-10:30!

On our way home, we stopped at the Tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree, and enjoy some hot dogs and hot chocolate by the fire!

More weekends like this one are needed!

Happy Birthday Papa! December 12, 2007

Wednesday was my dad's birthday. He and mom came to watch the kids skating lessons, then came over to our place for a Pot Roast dinner and Chocolate cake. The kids love spending time with their Papa... he's always willing to listen to them, or read a story.
Know what, Papa? WE LOVE YOU!!!

A special Sunday - December 9

Sunday was a special day for our family. First, Lucy sang a solo at church - 2 verses of "Away in a Manger". She did really well, and didn't appear too nervous! Joshua also sang with the KIDS church.
After church we, along with Nana and Papa, went out to the Pitt Meadows Golf Club for our annual "Brunch with Santa". The kids had a great time! We even met up with friends there.

December snow fun

The first weekend of December brought snow here - it lasted exactly 2 days before heating up and pouring down rain! But we got to head outside to build a snowman, snow angels, through snow balls and slide down the slopes of our backyard!

Crossword Puzzle 2007 Answers

I can't seem to get the crossword into my blog, but will continue trying. Here are the answers with some explanation. Oh, and did I mention I wrote it at 10:30 at night... clearly would have been better if I waited 'til morning!

ACROSS (top – bottom)

1.What project took up Mark's time this year? Basement reno... Mark completely gutted and rebuilt the basement and we love it!

2.Josh enjoys doing this in French and English Reading... Josh is pretty good at reading in both languages. Obviously English is his stronger language, and he is loving books, novels, the Sports page every morning, and he has decided to read through the Bible - currently in Leviticus.

3.Lucy likes to ________ Sing! She is forever singing some song, to herself or to us. She most recently sung a solo at Church - 2 verses of Away in a Manger.

4.Mark coaches Joshua's team in ________ Soccer... they both love it!

5.Erin drives the kids around in her Odyssey Van... yup, I'm a part-time Mom taxi.

6.Mark and Josh have a _________ card collection Hockey card collection... Mark says it's Joshua's, but he will often be found flipping through the pages with a smile on his face!

7.What Erin loves and Mark loathes Rain... it ain't called the "Wet coast" for nothing!

8.In July we went to the Caldwell _____ in Quebec Farm... 2 weeks of fun. Joshua almost didn't come back with us, he loved it soooo much!

9.We think our kids are _________ Silly... spend an hour with them, and you'll see!

10.Erin is pretty __________ with life Content... yes, I am!

11.We try to fill our days with many of these Smiles... it really helps to smile on those rough days too!

DOWN (left – right)

1.At Wee College, Josh & Lucy are learning about the _______ Bible... and they know so much already!

2.3 days a week Erin enjoys this at 6 am Early morning runs... with my buddy Lesley. Exercise, a good chat, and a refreshing way to start my day!

3.Lucy loves to draw and paint Art... we have art work everywhere!

4.Erin is a teacher and also works part-time for our ________ Church... Northside Foursquare is our other home.

5.We enjoy spending time with our ____ folk Kin... yup, couldn't fit family in the crossword. Love spending time with any of our family!

6.This year we took a few _____ out of town (Prince George, Shawville/Ottawa, Penticton, the Island and Seattle) Trips... and they were fun!

7.Josh & Lucy, Noah & Zach hunted for these at Easter in Prince George Eggs... okay, some empty squares that needed filling!

8.Josh is in grade 1 French Immersion at ___________ School... and he is very happy there!

9.Joshua loves this number puzzle Sudoku... he figured it out on summer vacation.

10.Our family was honoured to be involved in 2 October ____________ weddings... Anne & Stephen Judd's October 6, and Elisabeth & Steve Haase's October 13th!

11.We really try not to do this Yell! But sometimes we're tired, and slip up on this one!

12.Overall, 2007 was ________ Good. Great at times! We are blessed!

Christmas season is here!

It is snowing today - the first of December. It looks beautiful outside... although I haven't ventured out yet.

Mark was doing some work finishing the basement bathroom today and needed to head to the store. While there, he decided to buy a new shovel and some salt... and the clerk was staring at him in disbelief as he stood there in his shorts and sandals (his painting clothes)!

The kids and opted to do some Christmas baking... a new recipe "Chocolate marshmallow cookies". Pretty yummy! I love days like this!

Weekend with family

Remembrance day weekend found us travelling south to the Seattle area to spend some much-needed time with family. Mark's brother Blake moved into their sister Nancy's neighbourhood this summer, and it took us until NOVEMBER to make the 2 hour trip down! Ridiculous, I know. Part of the delay was the 2 weddings we were in, and Mark finishing up the basement. The other current issue is border waits. With the Canadian dollar stronger than the American, there are HUGE waits at the border, of people trying to get across to shop. On weekends, people will wait up to 4 hours to cross - which is just crazy!

Anyway, I digress. We had a great weekend with family, ate waaaaaaay too much food, and the cousins had a great time in one another's company. We all went to Shalynn's last soccer game of the season, did some shopping, watched a movie, played some games. Mark and Blake have been competing as "Biggest Losers"... neither really taking the competition seriously and losing any weight at all! I think we are now betting on who will be diagnosed with diabetes first!

We hope to make more time for each other like this!

Renovation done! (almost)

Well Mark's hard work is almost done! He has spent a lot of his free time over the last year gutting and rebuilding our basement. Initially, it was an issue of heat - the space downstairs was freezing! When Mark took everything apart we discovered it was only insulated from 3' up! There was an 8' long patch of dry-rot, and Mark had to build a temporary supporting wall in order to replace that patch. After rebuilding and framing, wiring, plumbing and insulating, the rooms were finally drywalled this summer.

Mark is on the home stretch now - just finishing up the full bath, and then he can have a few months off before we start the next home improvement project!

Halloween - October 31

We had a good night of pumpkin carving... we do have the cutest pumpkin patch not far from our house that we had visited. Lucy carved her little pumpkin, and Josh had a happy face on his. The next day our plans for costumes got turned upside down. Joshua was supposed to be Superman, but decided, at school, to ditch the man of red and blue, and just wear the cape. He brought along vampire teeth from a birthday party and wore a spider ring his teacher gave him. I was not pleased. Then Lucy, who was supposed to wear her beautiful princess dress, decided she MUST be a bride! Out of the dress-up box came Nana's neglige set (from 1968!), a little veil, and flowers from a vase in the living room. I liked it better when I chose the cute, furry Lion costumes....